Thomas spekces



Pfitnted MM 1 SULUTJUN lit commit c ted to source into which is distrlbntezil in o uniform men-- lin -Mo cow. W

.ope'iicetlon. filed September 30, 19%.

fill) all "outwit it may concern it known. that l, liiorsms fineness, a citizen oi the United ,dtntes, residing at pixie, in the con of Philadelphia to of Penneylminis lnwc invented it certain new end useful improvement in titomge liettcries, of which the following is o tell, elem: :1 i act description.

l;i'1is invenm n relates to storage batteries end more pa ticularly to e method of ap plying the tire paste to the grids or elecvorlt.

vmction oil? a storage battery rnnd which is known the the r. plots of the Home or posted type the active material is torn'ied from s pests consisting); out leed ox ids which has enough iced sulfate to act as e binder. 'llle usual Way to produce this so is to mix it certain amount of dilute snltnri 2 acid or s sulfate with the onid end sort: it up into a paste. and thenepply it to the grid with suitable tools. The greet objectioi'i to this method is the acid comes in contact with the oxid it be -ins to form sulfate at once and an 2111:;- r: J

sitter this, tends in a, measure to bread: on the crystals of sulfate 'li'ormed, with the result tlmt tbonmss loses in or great amount its cohesive structni To overcome this diliiculty is the object of my invention. ll eecon'iplis ibed this by adding; the dilute rmid or s lnble solfete to time lead oxide only the instant they are applied to the grid so that the structure of the paste is not (listurbed after the so is once formed. ll :icconiplished this in the Way set forth in the following specification.

Figure 1 is a partial sectional view of aprmretus for carrying out the method.

11 grid with varying; acid content.

Referring to Fi 1, the posting device consists ot'a specially constructed spreying apparatus 1 having en annular chamber 2 and a nozzle 3. The annular chambercommunicotes with the main opening t'tl'lrougll in. number of perforations 5. The chamber is also connected with the pipe 6=Wl1ich is connected with some'source 7 of dilute acid solution, which is delivered under smell. mnount oipressnre. lo time upper part of the sprayer l is connected in pipe 8 which is 9 of compressed air the lead oxide iii dry state em some 2 is en'lodificlition edepted to pesto or" Letters wettest.

' used, generally the stronger the acid.

that es soon as is taken. advantage ol' ficridl l lo. lftflftittti.

.lllor r till,

source 10. its this mixture oi? air and. oxide pass the perl'omtions 5., they meet the sold and min with it, end st the some time the combination is forcibly driven out of the nozzle 3 into the storage battery grid 11 Where the lnetel'iel builds up until the grid filled. It will be seen that by this llltibllOtl the orrids will telte the first set intlie grid and will not be disturbed afterward.

it is known. tlmttlie porosity of o plate can. be varied by the strength of the acid the more porous the plate. A. perfect plate would be one in which the porosity is the greatest on the surface and gradually decreases toward the center. TlllS would give maximum capacity and lite :tor or given thickness of material. This desirable result the modification shown can be obtained by in Fig- 2.

Referring to Fig 9,, in addition to th elements of the device descriiiied in Fig. l which in Fig. 2 are designeted by reference clmrscters 2, 3. l1, 5', (3, 33 end 11, the spreyer 1 contains e111 edditionelannular chamber 19, communicating through holes 13 with chamber 4L end connected by nine it to s'snpply otpure water (not shown} unclorlow prcssnre. fl. table i5 is greeted" to rcieio e the grid ll inv snob sews as to. leeve only the ripper lmlt open for pasting. After placing the grid in position as shown the operator will aniline; mlve 16 to rrive minimum acid strength and es soon as e layer has beeirspreyed in tlioggrid the valve will be opened Wider to give a stronger ecid solution for the next layer. in this We the acid strength is continually increase r until maximum strength is obteined in the top and last loyer of posts. The plate is then turned over on. a llttb s'nrlece and the unpested side built up in e similar nmnner.

lnsteed of varying" the ilow oil the acid a sol ntion it will? be apparent tlnut the waiter flow may be varied to secure fzgraeduslly in creasing; :rcid strength. A colnbilietion ot these two control schemes can lied creasing the water flow Whenever the cold flow is increased. It will be apparent that by followingthe process described the oxid end sulfuric ecid are blown into the desired piece bclore any reaction can take place and therefore the. initial reaction between the two nmterials and the binding ac- I lit) .ltlill lllti tion is therefore very efiicient. Plates mode in this Why will retain their paste much better than when pasted by prior processes, but this is not the only advantage of this process. The paste will be automatically mixed in coi-Tect proportion and as soon as the operator stops pasting the luto-s, the oxicl stream and acid jet will he-Ehut oli' hy valves (not shown) and therefore no surplus pi is left on hand. ihlSO in posting the grids by the new process, voids 01. (i i bubbles will be avoided as the spray l fill the interstices of the'grid evenly with the oxid mixture.

Ammonium sulfate is sometimes made up into a paste with red loud and \VktllQI', relying on the chemical action between the salt and the ()Xl(l. to produce lead sulfate for the binder. In case that such a paste is to lo employed, the red lead would he forced through the tube 8 as before explained, and

a solution of mnm'ouium sulfate in Water -would take the place of the sulfuric, acid.

Other materials cam he used without departmg; from the spirit of the invention.

Having described my invention, what claim is:

1. he process of filling storage battery plates, which consists in joining a stream of air containing an active material, with a.

'sti'eain' of enother active material in solution, end at substantially the some time forcing them onto the plate whereby the initial set is not disturbed.

2. The process of posting storage battery plates which consists in alomizing n. solutiou containing one of the reacting nmterials by means of. :1 stream of :iircontaining another of the u'iateriuls and spraying the mixture onto the plates.

8. The process of pasting batten grids, which consists in zitomizing u sulfuric. acid solution by means of it stream of ah containing a, lead oxid, spraying a. layer of the u'iixtui'eiuifo the central portion of the grid and grzulu'ully increasing the strength of the acid solution, as succeeding layers are sprayed, whereby the acid nil'kfllgl'll grzuh uzilly increases from the inside toward the outside of the grid.

l. The M. ess oi' pasting buttery grids which consists in blocking up the lower half, atomiziing {L sulfuric acid solution by means of a stream of 11h containing :1 lmui oxid, spraying a. layer of the mixtuie into the unblocked pm-tion, gradually increasing the strength of the acid solution as succeeding; layers are spi'ziyeth then turning the plate over 'zuul spraying the mixture into the unpustcd pzu'tin theszune manner, whereby the acid strength gradually lDQI'OISUS from the inside toward ouch outer surface.

5. A stmztge battery plate con'ipi'ising a framework and a porous active u'lateiial applied to theframework, the pmrosity oi said active nmterial glfzlillilll) deereusiup; towai'd the center of the plate.

In testimou'v whereof, I hei'ciuu'o allix my signature:

THOM AS SP ENCER. 

